Matcollis This Movie Can Only Be Described With One Word.

GamerTab That was an excellent one.

ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

Dotbankey A lot of fun.

Maz Murdoch (asda-man) Holy hell I have never had such a night. I recorded "Import/Export" on Film4, it was on there as part of the "Extreme Season" and thought that I'd give it a watch because it looked quite unsettling and I expected it to be slow-paced, yet gripping. It was none of those things. It wasn't even slow paced, it was beyond slow paced, I didn't even know a film could be this slow paced! I gave it a watch last night, and I understand that it was about 2hrs 30mins long but it felt like 4 and a half hours. I didn't actually read anything up about the film before viewing it, because I thought it was one of those films like "The Ordeal" where its better to let things unfold before knowing what's going to happen. Why the hell does this have an average rating of 7.0? I feel generous giving it 1!I don't often give films 1/10 because I can usually find something positive like the directing, or the effect it had on me. I even gave Lars Von Trier's "The Idiots" 2/10 on the account of it making me feel so uncomfortable and feeling disturbed that it's and experience I'll never forget. Similary "Import/Export" is an experience I'm not likely forget and not for the right reasons. I'll never forget it because I never knew that film could be this boring! Think of "Amelie" or "Mouln Rouge". Do you remember how full of energy and life they were? Well, "Import/Export" is the absolute polar-opposite of these films. Now, I'm not trying to say that it should be as full of life as those films because that clearly isn't what it's trying to go for here. But, what I am saying is it should just have a little bit of something that actually leads it on a path to somewhere.The film's biggest issue was that it didn't have a plot. So there are these two stories. One about a Ukrainian lady who goes around looking for a job, the system goes, finds one, loses it, finds one loses it and these jobs aren't exciting either, nothing happens that is significant in them at all. The second one is about a father and a step son going around looking for a job, this time with a twist (wait for it!!) they're looking for one IN the Ukraine! I know! I couldn't believe its interesting originality either! Oh, and guess what. Nothing happens. For the already long over-running time their is actually no content in the film. I believe the director's intentions was to show the truth about our human world and show how depraved we can be. Listen mate, I don't mind if you show me this, but at least present in a more exciting way. The two characters travel a road with pointless encounters that leads to nowhere and so does the film.The characters are completely unidentifiable, they're given little character and have little things to like about them. One's an immigrant who can't communicate the Austrian language and the other ones immigrants who can't speak the Ukrainian language. Hooray! Fun times. And who can forget the absolutely horrendous sexual imagery that served no purpose but to poison the viewers mind and probably to excite the perverted director. Some images were like porn. In fact it was porn really. The director said that he wanted these two scenes in to show the truth, that these things actually happen and people are too happy to brush it under the carpet. He said that he wanted to make them long so that it would have an impact. Yeah right, he's just a pervert! Listen here, Moon Unit, I know that the sex industry exists and I know about prostitution so you don't need to shove pointless pornographic images down my throat to understand that! If I wanted to watch porn, I'd go down to "WHSmiths" and look in the "Adult" section, but I don't want to watch porn! I want to watch a decent film! "Import/Export" is probably the worst film I've ever seen.I felt like I spent my whole life down in that sitting room and I seriously am struggling to think of a film I'd rather not watch than sit through this again! I can't understand why I didn't stop it? I've come close to stopping a film before ("Live Feed") but I've never actually done it. If I made it through "Import/Export" I think that I could probably watch anything with glee. So, weirdly I don't regret watching it, because now I can watch anything and see how so much better it is compared to this. The scenes with the geriatric patients were sometimes quite distressing and so the final scene was quite haunting for me. But, that doesn't change any of my views about this film. It's a plot less, characterless, scriptless mess that shouldn't be allowed to play on screens without giving a health warning first. I've heard people call films a 'snooze-fest' and I think that this is pretty much the definition on one.

kenjha A nurse travels from the Ukraine to Vienna in search of employment while a couple of shiftless Austrian men make the reverse trip. The two stories are told in parallel but are not integrated, making it seem like two films spliced together because they happen to have the same settings. The main attraction here is the titillation suggested by the movie's poster, although it's not enough to sustain one's interest. The film moves at a very deliberate pace and, like its characters, wanders aimlessly. The filmmakers are trying to make a point here but it's not clear what that point is. And they take much too long to not make a point. The cinematography is nice.

Stephane Gregory Dan OK, people say this movie is disturbing. That might be because it is the only movie of this kind they have seen (so I think). I am already experienced with this genre of semi-reality no storytelling movies, as I call them. The reason I rated this movie just with two is because since the Cannes Film Festival exists we all have seen movies of this type. I mean a plain and more than simple direction that doesn't tell any story but showing us true life in some sort. I, in my opinion, disagree with directors of this kind of movies, like Hanneke sometimes, because they try to get the most out of reality without understanding that a real thing is a plain documentary without any comments. Just by putting a camera somewhere you are already implying your point of view. There for subjective and not objective. Anyway, as I am to experienced with this type of movies I can't understand why they keep having success. there's nothing in a movie like this. You do it once or twice OK. But tell me a story now and then. Don't just grab a whole team to film something that almost everybody can do. No credit from my side. I must say that bullshit movies like Die Hard 4.0 is almost better then this and I thought it was one of the worst movies ever.

slabihoud Import/Export is not a film one recommends easily. It is a great film but it is not one to look at casually. The director Ulrich Seidl already has a reputation for drastic dialog and acting in his films. He started with documentaries and this is always apparent in his consequent films. The atmosphere is often unbearably realistic, many of his actors deliver so convincing performances that one thinks they must have been brought in from the street. They are not though. This, combined with simple framing leads to the strong documentary impression. In this film the focus is on two story lines which move in opposite directions. On starts in the Ukrainia and moves to Vienna, Austria and the other starts in Vienna and ends in Ukrainia. Both show a harsh life with violence and humiliation and sexual exploitation. While viewing this film I often wanted to look away or close my eyes as to protect my soul from the terrible experiences, the two protagonists are facing in very different ways. The moments of violence, humiliation and sexuality, although shorter then in his earlier films, are shown in a very graphic way, and stay in your mind long after the picture is over. Maybe you will never forget them. In this, the film has some parallels to Lukas Moodysons "Lilja 4-ever" which also makes you forget that it is a work of fiction you are watching. Moodyson concentrates himself completely on the tragic story of the main character's exploitation through the economic system and the resulting criminality in eastern Europe, plus the demand for sex without love in the western world and it"s tragic consequences for your unprotected girls. Seidl, on the other hand, chooses a young but grown up woman and mother in Ukrainia, a trained nurse, who can't make a living by working in a hospital and is forced to work as a porn model in from of an internet camera. Then she leaves for Vienna to work there in various unpleasant jobs. In the second storyline Seidl shows a young man from Vienna, trying unsuccessful to hold a job and always on the run from people he borrowed money from. He joins his stepfather on his trip through eastern Europe, delivering game automates and the like. They are both frustrated by their poor outlook of their future, and although they don't like each other, they both concur in spending their money easily on booze and women which they like to intimidate and humiliate.The film has some rare comic moments, but often scenes open on a funny note but then change fast into something that makes you choke on your own laughter. All in all a great, disturbing film!